Friends bowl for Bruce

Local

Friends and family of 13-year-old Bruce Steinberg, who has leukemia, show… (Staff photo/Todd Roller )

December 16, 2013|By David A. Schwartz, Staff Writer

When three members of Congregation B'nai Israel in Boca Raton heard that 13-year-old Bruce Steinberg's leukemia had returned after 18 months in remission, they went into action to help the family with the expenses of his medical treatment.

They started a fundraising website (www.gofundme.com/brucestrong) and planned a bowlathon with a T-shirt sale, silent auction and football pool.

On Sunday, friends of Bruce and his family got together at Strikes at Boca for the Brucestrong Bowlathon Fun Day.

"He's a super guy," said Danielle Ross of Boca Raton, whose son Myles and Steinberg are schoolmates at the Don Estridge High Tech Middle School and best friends. "We're trying to figure out what we can do to make life better for him."

Ross got together with Tani Winslow and Andrea Kanterman, whose children knew Steinberg from Hebrew school.

"Bruce really is a big part of B'nai Israel," said Winslow, who lives in Boca Raton. "The temple stood by me 110 percent."

Kanterman, of West Boca Raton, said, "This is something our kids were passionate about and really wanted to do."

"We wanted to do something really big for [the family] and help to support them," said Rabbi Marci Bloch, who prepared Steinberg for his bar mitzvah in November.

"He's an amazing young man; very mature. He's like an old soul," Bloch said.

For his bar mitzvah project, Steinberg collected "kid-friendly" band aids for children with cancer, she said.

He had to go through some difficult treatment before his bar mitzvah, Bloch said, but in his d'var Torah Steinberg recognized all the people who helped him. "God is all the people that bring me cards and visit me and send me text messages and deliver meals," he said.

"He's an inspiration to all of us about living life to the fullest," Bloch said.

Myles Ross, 13, said the bowlathon is "a really great thing because a lot of people can come together and help Bruce out. They can show loving and caring for Bruce."

Visit http://www.gofundme.com/brucestrong to make a contribution for Bruce Steinberg.